Entitled, Eluded
by IllicitlyNuttier
Summary: CSI-XF crossover: Following the evidence turns dangerous for Grissom and Sara when they become entangled in a conspiracy. Their only hope? Stumbling into the only two people who can fight the future.
1. Entitled, Eluded

Title: Entitled, Eluded 

Author: IllicitlyNuttier, or AKA ScullyAsTrinity and TriplePirouette!

Rating: PG-13

Category: Crossover/angst/romance

SPOILER WARNING: This story takes place during season 4 of CSI and AFTER season 9 of X-Files. Though, we have taken the liberty of giving Scully back her baby. How nice of us! Oh and "Jump the Shark" never happened, we like the Gunmen too!

Lauren's A/N: Well, I've been trying to do an XF/CSI crossover for a while now, but nothing's ever worked. Undoubtedly because I was writing without my best cohort in crime! Now that we're back together here's hoping we can come up with some pretty good stuff. It's a BLAST writing with you babe- you make all of my stuff seem so much better! Thanks to the usual suspects: Les, for being awesome, and to Rosa and the Sisters ;) Here's hoping you enjoy this... and that it's at least somewhat believable. We thrive on feedback!

Leslie's A/N: Damn, this has been in the works for forever and a day. See people, Lauren introduced me to CSI way back when I was in my prime of writing XF. And thank goodness she did! I love Lauren like whoa, and I'm go glad we're getting to do this together. And she's right, we do thrive on feedback. Thanks go out to her, Holly, Mel, Karen, Matt and Kat.

There will definitely be some GS romance, but we've also got lots of story going on here. We have MSR, too (Mulder/Scully romance)! Lastly, it may be helpful to know some X-Files Cannon. If you don't, there are tons of great XF sites out there to help you, or simply ask Les or myself and we'd be happy to help you out!

* * *

Las Vegas, Nevada 

"What do you think about that one?" Jim asked Grissom as the criminalist moved to join Jim at the edge of the crime scene. He nodded towards a dark house at the end of the street that stood in stark contrast to the small houses around them that were well lit with people hovering in their doorways as they watched the LVPD work around the scene of a body dump in a house for sale. "Vacation?"

"Could be, but there are two cars in the driveway and no outward signs of being boarded up." He paused and studied the house, "besides, the back window's open with soft light coming out of it. Why?"

"Guys doing the canvassing say the neighbors are quick to point fingers at the couple that lives there. Says their 'un neighborly' and 'creepy.'" Both men watched as a dark shadow fell over the back window, shutting it and drawing the shade, putting a damper on their viewing. "No reason to wake them if they didn't see anything. I'll run the address and see what we come up with."

"Good idea." Grissom said, noting the normalcy of the neighborhood.

"What'cha got inside?" Brass asked, turning back to the small house they were working around.

"Two bodies, shot execution style, and a couple of organic looking stains on the rugs." Grissom shook his head. "So far, we only know it's murder."

Jim nodded. "Nothing useful on this end except some suspicions about those neighbors, but that's all here say."

"Well then, you know what we'll be doing..."

"Yeah, yeah," Jim laughed. "You're just like a broken record." They stared at each other. "So? Go follow your evidence!"

Washington, D.C.

"So you said you have connections?"

"I do. Hey, stop hogging the chips."

"Those are my chips, dude..."

"Gentlemen! Can we get back on track?"

"Yeah."

"No reason to get bitchy. Anyway, yes. I know the computer analyst on the night shift. I'll just tell him she's an old friend. It'll fit in with the background we've created."

"What about the security checks?"

"When the government updated its software last month we slipped into the system and replaced all of the records. She'll have no problem."

"What about our boys?"

"They're fine. A little stir crazy, but fine."

"Do you actually think this is going to work?"

"It has to."

"So, you want to know who owns the house?" Jim asked, a smug look on his face as he hung in the doorway of Grissom's office. Grissom just lifted his eyebrows. "Follow me."

Grissom followed Jim through the buildings and into the morgue.

"They're dead?" Grissom asked as they entered the cold, sterile room.

"Not quite," Jim said, smiling a bit as Doc Robbins emerged. "Hey Doc."

"Jim, Gil." Robbins nodded. "What can I do for you gentlemen?"

"I'm going to need to speak with your new assistant." Jim said evenly, but politely.

"It's her first day, don't scare her." The doc said as he moved to a set of doors at the back of the room, "I can't afford to lose another assistant. No one wants to work nights these days, especially in a morgue." He stopped just shy of the doors. "Oh, and Gil, tox is still pending, but Sara has the prelim on the two from last night's shooting."

Grissom just nodded as he watched his friend leave the room. "She works here?" Grissom turned to Jim and talked in a hushed whisper.

"Hired a week ago, started tonight." The two men turned to watch a petite woman walk in. Mid-thirties and with long blonde hair, she was striking with bright green eyes and a small, pouty mouth. She did, however, look world-weary: like she knew far too much for her fragile body to stand. "Katherine Melville? I'm Jim Brass with Homicide and this is Gil Grissom with Criminalistics. Can we take a moment of your time?"

"As long as it's alright with Doctor Robbins." She said in a monotone alto, watching as the man limped by, nodding and eyeing his friends curiously as he again slipped out of the room. "How can I help you?"

"Are you aware that there was a murder committed on your street last night?" Grissom asked, watching the woman for any outward signs of stress at their questions. She stayed cool and folded her arms over her chest.

"I knew something was going on." She said, almost challenging the men.

"Not interested enough to come take a peek?" Jim asked, curious.

"Well, I know most people are interested in that sort of thing. We, my husband and I, that is, might have stepped out but we were otherwise engaged at the moment." Jim tipped his head, confused by the wording.

"You were being intimate?" Grissom asked, hoping for clarification.

She laughed and smiled at the two uncomfortable men. "I wish. No, um, our son's been sick. He's thirteen months and kept us up the whole night crying. The commotion of the crime scene wasn't helping, so we closed all of the windows." She watched the men nod, taking the story at face value. "Must look pretty suspicious..."

"Well, your neighbors do have some stories to tell about you... more like suspicions." Jim tried to be leading, hoping for her to explain.

"Well, my husband and I moved in pretty fast because we closed escrow on our old house faster than we expected to, and we work nights, or at least he did and I do, so we sleep mostly during the day. Our son isn't old enough for school, so we're not out much with him unless it's in the back yard, but the house came with a high wood fence, so you can't see into the backyard. I guess that could make nosy neighbors suspicious."

"I guess it could." Jim said, switching into a less suspicious mode of operation. "Did you see or hear anything suspicious in relation to the house down the block? Number 115, the Bradlies?"

"No, but like I said, I've been pretty pre-occupied with my son and the new job." She shrugged.

"Would your husband have seen anything?" Grissom asked, his mind working to try to understand the woman in front of him.

"I doubt it. He works as an independent editor now, at home office and all, so when he's not with William he's working, and when he's working he's in his own world." She shrugged. "You're free to talk to him, though. We're not spooky, even though the neighbors seem to think so."


	2. Not Spooky

Lauren's A/N: Thanks to everyone for the feedback so far... it's been a great response and I hope we live up to your expectations. As always, to Les and the normal peeps... Also, I've had a HORRIBLE case of writers block lately. New chapters of IandB and WATOI will be out as soon as my muse comes back...soon...hopefully... 

Leslie's A/N: Ditto to all that. Going to the Pats playoff game tomorrow, so wanted to get some more of this posted. And may I add… WE'RE GONNA TOAST YOU MANNING!

* * *

"Coming!" A male voice yelled through the door as a high pitched wail followed. Brass and Grissom looked at each other, the child's scream already starting to irritate them. The door opened a crack and another cry was heard. The door abandoned, the voice floated out again. "I know it hurts buddy, I know..." There was grunt as weight shifted, and the door opened all the way. "Detective Brass and Dr. Grissom, I presume?" 

The man in the door was a sight to behold: a shirtless, well toned man with a bare torso and sweat pants, looking like he'd just rolled out of bed with his hair sticking up and stubble dotting his face, cradled a red-faced baby to his chest, rocking back and forth a bit.

"William Melville? We can come back another time..." Brass motioned toward the whimpering baby splayed in the man's arms. While the comment was meant to be a nicety, Brass didn't really relish the idea of being around a screaming baby.

"No, no. He'll quiet down in a minute, the new medicine should be kicking in soon." The man stepped back and allowed the men into the cluttered, yet somehow neat, living room. "He's prone to nasty ear infections. We keep hoping he'll grow out of it. What can I do for you gentlemen?"

"How well do you know your neighbors Mr. Melville?" Brass questioned as Grissom kept his ear tuned to the conversation while his eyes roamed elsewhere. He took in the dark contures of the living room, the unpacked boxes stacked precariously against the walls, a bag of potato chips open on the coffee table.

"Not well I'm afraid. I don't generally see the light of day if you know what I mean." He motioned with his head to a room on the left. It was dark, except for a lone table top lamp which illuminated an incredibly messy desk. "I'm already four days late for a publishing deadline and my boss is gonna have my ass if I can't come up with an ideal cliffhanger."

William rocked side to side, which seemed the please the gurgling baby. He smiled down at his son and then back at the two men.

"Ah." Brass said, taking another quick look around himself. "Can I uh, ask you what's with all the boxes? Moving?"

William blushed and looked aroudn the room. "It would appear that way, but no. No, we just, never got around to unpacking." He shrugged his shoudlers which set his son crying once more. He winced and turned away. "I'll just be one moment, I'm gonna see if I can put him down for a nap. Make yourself comfortable... as comfortable as you can get without infringing upon my fourth amendment rights."

As soon as he was out of view, Brass turned to Grissom. "Suspicious?"

"Well, it does look like someone's getting ready to leave town but that would make no sense. The people next door said they've only been here for a few months... and judging by the lived-in feel-" Grissom cringed ever so slightly. "That this house has, I doubt there going anywhere."

Grissom caught Brass's eye and raised his brow. "But that doesn't mean they're not hiding anything under all of this... junk."

"Yeah, but... probably cause."

"There-in lies the challenge." Grissom replied and squinted in the hazy darkness of the house.

"This doesn't make any sense..." Sara said under her breath. Nick turned his head and stared at her, a curtain of hair covering her face from his view as she peered into the microscope.

"What's wrong?"

"This carpet stain... it's..." She was breathless and her face was screwed up in confusion when she looked up.

"Well? What is it?" Nick said, moving over to the microscope.

"I don't know. That's the problem."

"Sent it to trace yet?" Nick adjusted the microscope to get a better look for himself.

"No, but... It's green. That's all I have so far." Sara leaned over the closest bench and swatted at her eyes with her forearm, avoiding her gloved hands. "God, I've been staring at it so long it's making my eyes water."

"So what can I help you gentlemen with otherwise?" Mr. Melville trotted out of the back of the house, having slipped a well worn Harvard shirt on and holding a baby monitor.

"The nature of the murder down the street was very unique. We were hoping that maybe you could tell us if you saw or heard anything out of the ordinary in the last week or so?" Grissom asked.

Brass watched the man's eyes light up, his head cocking to the side as Grissom began to talk, and finally fear and adrenaline coursing though him. Brass would have said that the man was a CSI, just by the way he stood at attention, the way his eyes lit up at the mention of a mystery, the way he tilted his head and bit at his lip just like Grissom... but the posture of fear threw him off.

"Mr. Melville, is there something you'd like to share?" Brass said, watching as the man quickly withdrew into a shell, hiding away the fear. "You look like something scared you there for a second."

"What...what kind of unique are we talking here?" The man stuttered. All of a sudden he jumped from being suspicious to being suspect number one on both men's lists. The moment was punctuated by a screaming through the baby monitor.

"I'm sorry, we can't divulge information on an ongoing investigation. Have you seen something unusual?" Grissom asked, trying to wrap his mind around the man's suspicious behavior.

"No. No I haven't." He herded them towards the door. "If you'll excuse me I need to see to my son."

"So what we've got at the moment...are two DB's, no motive, no suspect, no real viable evidence. I love a challenge but this is a bit much man." Nick complained good naturedly, sipping his coffee.

"Wrong, we've got two... organic stains." Sara pointed out, realizing just how dismal the case was looking. She knew that cases like this would require everyone to be at their peak, not to mention put in a significant amount of overtime so that the other cases didn't get backlogged. "Guess this means I'm doubling... wait, tripling up tonight." Sara said, no real inflection in her voice.

"Girl, if you work any more overtime, you'll start to travel backwards through space and time." Warrick commented, sipping his own coffee while perusing the newspaper.

"At least I'll be putting my degree to some sort of rational use." She grumbled and pushed herself away from the breakroom table to search through the contents of the cabinets. She foudn nothing to her liking so hopped up on the counter next to the coffee machine and poured herself a cup, not stopping to bother with the milk and sugar.

Catherine whizzed into the room and very nearly flung herself into a chair. "Guys, we have to let Greg go home. He's been here, god, I think he's been here for two days straight." She winced and rubbed her fingers over her eyes, careful not to disrupt the mascara that had been carefully applied.

Seconds later, Grissom entered the room and sat down next to Warrick, leaning over his shoulder. "Fecund."

"What?"

"Six letter word for fertile, fecund." Grissom supplied, informing Warrick of one of his crossword clues. The CSI's face went from angry to impressed to annoyed as he filled in the word with his pencil. Grissom continued to look on.

Catherine interrupted the two men. "Griss, you have to send Greg home. He's been here going on forty-eight hours." She placed her arms decisvely on the table and stared at her supervisor.

"I tried." Grissom shrugged and made like the rest of the group, getting himself a cup of tepid black coffee.

"Excuse me?" The blonde tossed her hair in disbelief, abstaining from joining the group in the coffee drinking. "You tried?"

"That I did, but he refused to go home." He shrugged again, and Catherine was content to drop it, internally impressed with the lab tech's staying power. Sara smiled at the thought of Greg finding out what a real triple shift left like. As she did so, Grissom moved beside her and reached up into the cabinet beside her head. "Where's the sugar?" He inquired, shifting around the inner contents to no avail.

"Oh!" Sara perked up and twisted her back. "It's in this one. Jacqui cleaned up the other day..." She trailed off as she searched through the cabinet in her awkward position. Grissom's eyes, of his own accord, stole a glance at the exposed skin of her back, noting the placement of the freckles and the expanse of delicately smooth skin.

A fleeting image passed through his mind of his hand reaching out to touch her there, to feel the heat of her skin, but it was stilled when he caught a glimpse of black ink. He could only make out a fraction of it, but he was sure... that he had discovered that Sara Sidle had a tattoo.

The revelation came just as she whipped around and nearly knocked him out with the canister of sugar. He held it up as if he were toasting it, and poured some into his mug. "Now-" He took a large gulp relishing in the rush of caffeine through his veins. "Down to business."


	3. Tripped Up

Lauren's A/N: So, by now you're probably all clammoring.. wondering WHY dear God in heaven WHY I can't get a &#&) chapter of IandB or WATOI out. Well, I'm wondering the same thing. For some reason the tag team writing works, though...I'm hoping that when the semester starts going (yes, my FINAL semester of college! Graduation in May, baby!) I'll relax a little. Oh, and this is for Les, who scares me. A lot. Even though I love her. She still scares me. 

Leslie's A/N: Okay so my A/N: Guys, thanks for all of you who've reviewed. But it still makes me sad that there aren't more. I'm just so damn hard to please. Okay, that's a lie. I love Lauren, and... she should... have my babies... though that's... biologically impossible. I'm shutting up now.

Lauren's 2nd A/N: See what I said about being scary? Still love her... I guess... :shudder:.

* * *

Sara made her way into the DNA lab, two coffee mugs in hand. She paused at the door to watch as Greg quickly prepared a swab and put it through the machine. Against her will, a smile appeared on her lips, finding a similarity between herself and the younger man. 

She cleared her throat and sauntered into the room. He paused and spun around in the swivel chair, regarding her tiredly. "Hey Sara, whatcha got?" He asked, fully expecting her to dump a load of work into his lap. Instead, she held out the coffee mug.

"No sugar, didn't think your system could deal with it." She stated, gesturing to the cup. He nodded in appreciation, ignoring the temperature of the caffeinated beverage and downing a few gulps. His eyes slipped shut and she sighed and smiled.

"Thanks Sara, I didn't think I'd have a chance to grab some before... well you know." He gestured to the backlog with his mug and took another few gulps, nearly finishing the coffee.

"I hate to ask this Greg," She said, leaning against the lab table and setting her mug down. "And you know I wouldn't unless this was a rush-"

"Or if you were playing me." He said in good nature.

"Yeah or that. She smiled at him, his heart fluttering just a little.

He continued. "Yeah well, that substance you sent in, nothing but standard Gak." He said, spinning back around to the lab bench to locate the paper. He shifted documents around until he came upon the one that he wanted. Triumphantly, he shot his fist into the air, then bringing the document down to his colleague's hand.

"Gak?" She inquired, looking over the chemical makeup, unable to discern what it meant. "Greg, what the hell is Gak?" She stuck her finger into her coffee, pulled it out and licked the liquid off of her finger.

"Gak, you know, from Nickelodeon." Sara clearly wasn't following his train of thought. She stared at him blankly, seemingly to prompt him on. Greg sighed and placed his mug down, giving Sara his full attention.

"Gak, popular in the mid 90's." Greg raised his eyebrows to ask if there was any sign that she was following him. "Okay, Nickelodeon?" She inquired, sure that she had heard of the television network. It was an institution with people his age, she's surely heard of it.

"No? Well, okay. Let me explain. Had such shows as 'Clarissa Explains It All', 'Rocko's Modern Life', 'Guts', 'Are You Afraid of the Dark', 'Wild and Crazy Kids'... I was on that once... 'Double Dare'? Come Sara! 'Legends of the Hidden Temple'? 'Pete and Pete'! 'The Secret World of Alex Mac' for Christ's sake!"

Sara's eyes lit up. "Yes! 'Are You Afraid of the Dark' with the Midnight Society and the scary stories... okay, I know what you're talking about." Greg didn't ask how, he simply wore an amused and impressed smile. "Now what about the gook?"

"The Gak." He corrected her. "Well, on a lot of shows, game shows... when the contestants would lose, they'd dump a load of it on their head. Then, it became so wildly popular, that Nickelodeon began to market it. From slime to thick goop, all different colors. I had this glow in the dark Gak thing... you could draw on a board and-"

"Greg!" She stopped, moving closer to him, close enough that he could smell her. "What about the Gak, is there any significance?"

"Well, I can tell you this. It stopped being produced four years ago. This stuff was fresh, like the can had never been opened. Maybe some back stocked Toys R' Us supplies?" He expectantly filled in as he finished his tepid coffee and turned back to his work.

"What the hell is going on?" The voice shouted angrily into the phone.

"Dude, I don't know, it's-"

"We came to you guys so this wouldn't happen!" The phone nearly shook with the intensity of the voice on the other end. The man on the latter held it away from his ear and chewed a pen between his teeth.

"I know, I know. We didn't anticipate this. But man..." He trailed off, not sure of how to break it to his comrade. "Hey! Wait! You aren't even supposed to be calling us!" He had caught him, the man on the other line huffing, surely upset at being called on such a petty mistake.

"That's not the point. They're investigating now. I don't want to blame you guys, you know I don't. You saved our ass, but... They're investigating us. They dig deep enough they'll see, they'll see we're not real." It was true, they weren't real. Their lives built on an incredibly elaborate and obtuse lie. "I thought anyone could disappear in Vegas." He concluded, allowing the phone to nearly fall from his shoulder.

"I don't know what to tell you right now. We'll do the best we can. But if we erase you completely, a red flag'll go up. We have to redefine our methods and find a new avenue. It might take a few days. But for now, just tell the truth." The man who said it nearly laughed, looking at his two colleagues who were begging to be let in on the conversation. They stood in front of him expectantly. He threw up his middle finger and turned around.

"I can't even explain to you how ironic that is. The 'truth.' Sounds cliché now doesn't it? Well, what do you suggest, besides the truth?" He asked, shifting the phone between ears.

"Other than, you know, tell the truth..." He took the pen out of his mouth and threw it on his desk. "Tell the truth and well, there's really nothing to do because they already suspect you. Just cooperate. And we'll contact you next time man. Are you insane? Don't call us again unless it's a real emergency."

The other man yelled into the phone. "How do you know this isn't a real emer-" The man hung up on him and tossed the phone down on the couch.

His two colleagues stared at him. "Finish dinner would you? We can't fight a conspiracy on an empty stomach."

"So what did they say?" Katherine asked her husband, watching him pace back and forth, staring at the phone. Their son gurgled in her arms.

"Tell the truth!" He laughed out, dropping to the couch, putting his head in his hands. She laughed a bit as well and shook her head, putting her baby down in his playpen and going to her husband, quietly sitting next to him and taking the phone from his hands. He looked up at her with a small smile, appreciating the show of support, and tipped his head to hers, their foreheads touching. "I think... I think we need to leave."

"What, just leave?" He nodded and she took his hand, playing with his much larger fingers. Her voice took on a sarcastic quality, but also held a levity that even she was shocked at. "We could do that, but we are up against the number two lab in the country- and as far as I can tell they're not a part of the conspiracy- just well run. So if we left, that means they would put a warrant out on us for questioning, and then we'd be wanted for two murders." She sighed and leaned into his embrace. "I'm sick of running. I've seen these people work. I've talked to Doctor Robbins about them. They're like us, Mulder. They only want the truth. We've been implicated because we're new in the neighborhood, but we didn't do anything wrong. They'll see that and we'll never hear about it again."

"You really think so?" He was reluctant to stay, his primal urge to flee and protect his family was strong, but he knew his wife was usually right. Sometimes. Ok, almost always. And she wanted to stay. So they would stay. He hugged her close. He pulled back and looked in his wife's eyes, dropping his guard for a moment to whisper the words as sacred to them as 'I love you,' "Alright, I trust you, Dana."

"Anything?" Sara asked, for the umpteenth time in fifteen minutes. Greg was beginning to think her questioning was no longer cute.

"There wasn't anything fifteen seconds ago, there's nothing now. You know Sara, a watched pot never boils." Greg threw out at her sarcastically, glancing briefly in her direction.

"Everything has a boiling point Greg, even me, and I'm just about there." She ground out, at a stalemate where the evidence was concerned. "So, we have... Gak... no hair or fibers for trace, just Gak. This is ridiculous." She threw her hands into the air and huffed out an angry sigh.

The printer beeped and a sheet of paper came sliding smoothly out. Sara made a grab for it, but Greg snatched it first, glaring at her. He held it between delicate fingers and dangled as he read. "What the-, okay so the prelim screening missed this." His brow was furrowed as he handed her the piece of paper.

Sara gazed over the information. "What's so strange about this? All I can see if 'unidentified substance'. Could be a glitch, run it again." Sara handed the printout back hastily and made to leave.

"No, no." Greg halted her. "The DNA has a fifth and sixth nucleotide Sara. This substance really... doesn't exist anywhere in nature." Greg's voice shook as he spoke, wondering about the implication his words held.

"You're telling me, that this substance... is... what?"

"Not natural, and not manufactured. It can't be created with any known technology or substance that we currently possess. It's, well, it's alien."

Sara was confused and intrigued. She snatched the printout back and looked back at Greg. "For the sake of science, I'm just going to pretend you didn't say that. It's unidentifiable Greggo. I think it's time to... redefine our search." She smiled at Greg, who smiled back and grabbed a batch of swabs that swing shift had logged in hours earlier.

"Good luck!" He called as she breezed from the room, making quick time getting to Grissom's office, entering without knocking. He sat up quickly in his chair, startled by the entrance.

"Sara." He said stoically, shutting his laptop, giving her his attention.

"We've got something, or, well, nothing. More specifically." She sputtered, not sure whether she should be excited or not. She handed him the paper in her hand and bounced on the balls of her feet.

"Fifth and sixth nucleotide?" Grissom pondered. "That's not possible. Unless, some rare species of plants found in the rainforest, but then how..." He was speculating out loud and it was beginning to get on Sara's nerve.

"Yeah, anyway. So I was thinking we redefine our search. Maybe run it through some of the other databases we have access to. CIA, FBI, CDC..." Sara trailed off, excited at the prospect of new avenues of scientific research. She waited for his response as he read over the contents of the analysis once more. He nodded and handed it back to her.

"Tell me if you find anything."

She spun on her heel and he watched as she retreated, once more catching a glimpse of black ink peeking out from her tank top.


	4. Looks Can Be Deceiving

Lauren's A/N: AN- school has gotten really stressful lately- so I want to thank Les, who always yells at me to get my head out of here and back on the important things, like posting. Some days I realy wonder where I'd be with out the catharsis of my fic communities. Thanks for always being there. 

Leslie's A/N: (grumbles) School. BAH! Bah to you! Go Pats, go Sox. I love you Boston, I love you Lauren.

* * *

The morning light was filtering in the diner as their orders came. A few moments of silence covered the booth's three occupants as they began to eat, savoring the taste of something other than the lab's sludge. Grissom carefully swallowed and looked at Greg. "So what are you thinking, Greg"

Greg's eyes widened. He didn't actually expect to be consulted about this. He thought they asked him as a courtesy. Or as an excuse to keep his mouth zipped. A possible fifth and sixth nucleotide was either the biggest discovery in science, or the biggest mix up. He swallowed a mouthful and coughed. "Well, I re-ran the test after I finished Swing shift's samples for the night. We did have a mix up, but it's not what we thought. There was some contaminate in one of the swabs I initially ran- the test tube actually had held Gak when it was used for Day's outreach program for science in the local school district. I'm thinking the day's tech didn't realize it had been used when it was returned to the lab and it got mixed in with the clean vials. I re-ran everything with what I KNEW was sterile equipment and it came back as an unidentified organic. The extra nucleotides were still there." Greg blushed a bit"I don't get it. It's not supposed to be possible."

"From what we know of nature, no. But theoretically it's not impossible." Sara speared some fruit, holding up her fork. "Just because we can't have it doesn't mean it's not possible." The table buzzed with her obvious double entendre for a second before Grissom cleared his throat and continued.

"Brass is still working on the background checks for the house and the bodies. We still can't identify- they're not in AFIS. He's going to try facial recognition and dental match, but he's still got them labeled as John Does." He sighed and put his hands flat on the table. "We need to document everything from here on out. If those truly ARE new nucleotides we could have just fumbled on one of the biggest discoveries in scientific history. But the fact remains that we know nothing about them."

"You know, what if they're manufactured? Like the last few elements on the periodic table" Sara mused out loud. "Stealing a discovery like that could definitely be a motive."

"Very true, but we need to proceed with caution." Grissom agreed, wondering why he hadn't thought of scientific espionage before.

"Um, Griss" Greg asked, Nervously pushing his breakfast around.

"What Greg"

"I don't know how many people you want to know about this, but a few months ago Archie was telling me about a few guys he knows that are tech experts, but apparently they know some experts in the odder aspects of science. Maybe... maybe we could use some help here"

Grissom made a point of outwardly showing that he was really considering the option, but frowned. "We're not in over our heads, yet, Greg. We're not the number two lab in the nation for no reason. If I think we could use a hand, maybe we'll consult these people. See if you can get some more information on them, though."

"I don't mean to jump to conclusions but..." The woman started, opening the over, poking at what was baking in the dish.

"But..." The man took the bait and ducked into the refrigerator to attempt to locate a cucumber. "We have no cucumbers by the way Dana."

"But it looks like the substance that we've come into contact with before. The substance that was secreted when"

"You're kidding."

"I'm not."

"You're kidding" He said, placing two plates down on the table, walking to another cabinet, rummaging through it for William's dinnerware. "This can't be possible. I don't want it to be possible." He continued as he popped open a Gerber container and poured it into his son's plastic bowl.

"And I do? Thus far, they don't know what it is. They've run it twice, and it's coming up unidentified."

Her husband spun around and raised a brow at her in question. "I may have snuck a look at tech's notes." She shrugged in explanation.

The man's face broke out in a grin. "Snooping on the sneak-tip." He winked at her. "I taught you so well." He moved over to her and pecked her on top of the head, causing her to laugh.

"Don't flatter yourself." She stated, opening the oven again, pulling the dish out and setting it on the counter. "We should talk about this though. Let the guys know. Tell Walter at the very least. See if there are any new blips on the radar so to speak." She threw over her shoulder as she continued to prepare dinner.

When she wasn't graced with a response, she turned to look at him, finding him leaning against the refrigerator with his head down in thought. "I'm sorry." He replied.

His blue eyes snapped up to seek her green ones. He looked intensely sad. He crossed his arms over his chest and peered down at the linoleum once more. "I am, I'm sorry. I don't think I've really said that yet. I just wanted you to know, and I wanted to thank you."

"Sorry" She asked, stepping closer to him, reaching a hand out and placing it on his arm.

"Yeah. I don't want to make you run and... and..." He stopped for a moment, uncrossed his arms and enveloped her in them. "I hate you as a blonde."

Archie sat down at the computer in his living room and turned on his instant messenger, hoping that his contact would finally be online. It wasn't often that Greg asked him for anything, and if Archie had any sense about him he could tell that Greg's nervousness, combined with the new need-to-know status of Grissom's latest case, had him on edge. He smiled when he saw that he was on. Maybe Archie could get in on the action soon. He IMed.

VidGuy2020: Hey, I need a favor.

Langly took a bite of his doughnut and typed back.

JRamone1981: Did you get a virus on your lab's computer again?

VidGuy2020: No, I learned my lesson. This is a little bigger than that.

JRamone1981: Bigger? I'm listening...

VidGuy2020: Remember a while back you mentioned that you have some friends that are experts in the slightly odd?

Langly dropped his doughnut and yelled for his two friends to get back in the room. When they protested he added profanity. "Look up my stats on VidGuy2020" He demanded as he typed back.

JRamone1981: I think so. What's up?

VidGuy2020: We might be needing their expertise. Our lab director wants to know more about them.

JRamone1981: Well, maybe if you could tell me more about your problem I can tell you if they can help you or not.

"Langly" Frohike shouted from the next computer"He's the AV lab tech in the Vegas Lab" The three men looked around at each other. They were in so much trouble.

"Ok, Ok, let's stay cool" Langly said to the other two dire faces. The reply popped up.

VidGuy2020: Just know it's big. All the fines have been labeled NTK in the last 24hrs.

As Langly began to reply, a loud buzzer started to go off and the small computer set up in the corner held everyone's attention. Byers, in his crisp suit, was the first to reach it. He gulped loudly. "Unidentified substance from the Vegas Metro lab is being run through the FBI database, the computer intercepted it. It's a match to an X-File."

"Shit, Mulder was right." Frohike breathed out. "Has either system noticed this yet" He asked frantically.

Byers typed a few keys. "No. It didn't flag in the FBI system just like we programmed it to, but it flagged in ours. Vegas is getting kicked back no results, but if they do a manual search they'll find it."

"Oh, we're so dead."

"Got nothing." Archie said, nearly startling Greg off of his lab stool. The lab tech looked up, dejectedly, and grabbed the sample up off the counter.

"Damn it. There's no way that something just... doesn't exist. It's impossible."

Archie shrugged and moved forward to look at the sample. "Looks like Gak, remember that stuff"

Greg's head shot up. "Thank you! Yeah dude, I used to throw that crap on the ceiling"

He was cut off abruptly when Grissom entered the room, head in a file. "Anything" Gil asked, eyeing the sample as well.

"Source didn't pan out, we're gonna have to run it through the database manually. Could pan out, but it'll take awhile. I mean... a long while." Greg stressed. Grissom nodded and took the jar from Greg's hand. "I have to get through levels of security and authorization, so I'll need the lab's code..."

"Okay. It's the only piece of concrete evidence we have here, so run it. Page me immediately if anything is found. Hey, have you gone home yet" Grissom asked, pushing his glasses more securely on the bridge of his nose. Greg shook his head in the negative. His boss peered at him through half lidded eyes.

"Well, get some sleep, you look like hell. This can wait a few hours." Grissom concluded and left the lab, head in his file once more.

"I feel so loved." Greg deadpanned, and began searching through the computer anyway. He sent the sample off running, had Archie password protect his computer, and cleaned up the station. He talked with Archie for a few minutes about his Halo status and left the lab, nearing zombie status.

A computer beeped. No one heard it. The computer became impatient and beeped twice. Still, no one noticed. The computer set off a litany of beeps, rousing a sleepy tech-nerd from his resting place on the couch.

"Oh. Crap." Frohike said. His fingers flew over the keyboard in an attempt to intercept the information as it zipped through the system but it was no use. No back channels were being used and all the information being provided was legitimate. If he intercepted the information at such a late point, not only would the federal government be informed, but the Las Vegas lab as well.

Frohike sat back in his swivel chair and watched as one computer made friends with the other, information being exchanged. The coordinates that were available for the unknown substance were transmitted from the FBI's lab to the Las Vegas lab in a flurry of letters and numbers.

"An X-File, what the hell is that" Warrick asked, annoyingly reading over Grissom's shoulder.

"Not quite sure" Grissom answered as he continued to read. Archie's doing some manual research on it. Apparently there's a glitch in the new FBI database."

Nick looked at Grissom, stirring his coffee. "Glitch"

"Yeah, they updated a few months ago. Archie backed up our connection to their database as standard procedure about a year ago right before they updated, so he's going to do a manual search on the saved database. He's estimating the FBI may have lost a whole division." Grissom shook his head, a fan of paper verses computer chip, and kept reading.

"They lost it, or they're hiding it" Nick said quietly, prompting everyone in the room to look at him. "What? You can't tell me that you don't find them suspect, too. Just a little"

"I think you're just a little paranoid, Nick" Sara smiled back.

"In any case, this file seems to confirm some suspicions of mine." Grissom flipped through the stapled pages. "I just need to get in touch with the investigators: Fox Mulder and Dana Scully. Brass is on that."

And like magic, Brass appeared in the break room, quickly rounding the corner, dropping some pages on the table and huffing into a chair. "Yes, he was."

"Was" Sara questioned, handing Brass a cup of coffee.

"Was. The FBI is like Fort Knox when it comes to the X-Files. Apparently we have some "bad information." They say that the X-Files don't exist. Never have, never will." He watched the faces around him fall.

"Ha! See" Nick leaned back, upset that he was actually right for once.

"And even though the files don't exist, the investigators do. Special Agent Fox Mulder and Special Agent Doctor Dana Scully both have warrants out for their arrest. Agent Mulder disappeared after he was found guilty of murder by a military tribunal. They're faxing over pictures now."

Sara took the info and flipped through it before tossing it down on the table. The CSI's each took a moment familiarizing themselves with the information that Jim had found. Or the lack thereof.

"Well then, who's waiting for the fax" Brass questioned as Greg dashed from the room to check for the incoming information. Catherine grinned at his level of spunk and settled back for what she knew would be a few precious moments before she would have to return to work.

Greg ran back to the room, hair disheveled, a pile of papers in hand. "Grissom." He thrust the papers into his supervisor's hand and took a moment to catch his breath. "Is it me or does she look familiar."

Grissom shot his lab tech a patented 'go-away' look, but the young man stood his ground. Grissom would have admired his attitude had his eyes not been attracted to the two security shots. Immediately, he recognized both of them. His demeanor took on a more hostile manner and he smacked the table, shoving the papers over to Jim, whose eyes darkened.

"Kidding me, the editor? With the kid? How" Jim was non-plussed. "Sorry Gil, I just, neither of us got the vibe. Doesn't look like such a dangerous guy."

"Well Jim, looks can be deceiving." Grissom replied bitterly, gathering his papers into a massive heap, then addressing the room. "Sara, Nick, you're with Brass and I. Warrick, Cath, help Greg catalogue the unknown substance. And someone contact PD, have them put out a new APB on Dana Scully and Fox Mulder."

Everyone fluttered off to their respective duties. Sara rising from her chair slower than usual. She wiped the back of her hand against her brow, gathering the cold sweat there, wiping it off onto her jeans.

"Sara" Grissom called, noticing she was lagging behind.

Her head shot up as she looked at him. "Yeah, I'll be right there. Just wanna grab some aspirin. Headache."


	5. With A Twist

Lauren's A/N: Feedback has been great! I'm so glad everyone's enjoying our little fic here. We'll try to do our best making it awesome. ;) 

Leslie's A/N: I love awesome things. I also love Mel Brooks. He's awesome. Don't you think?

* * *

"Yes, it's a problem" Mulder shouted into the phone, then pulled the handset away from him and rolled his eyes, trying to get his anger under control. Around him Scully practically ran, shoving items in boxes and packing up their lives quickly and efficiently- something she'd gotten used to in the last few months.

A doorbell stopped them dead. One second, then two, and the only sound was Frohike groveling on the other side of the phone.

"Who is it" Mulder yelled as he moved toward the door.

"Walter Skinner" the voice yelled back, clipped, but in the familiar tone.

"Prove it" Mulder yelled back, pulling his gun out from the holster at the middle of his back.

"Constantly..." Skinner muttered under his breath. "Which little misadventure of yours would you like me to recount for you" he yelled through the door.

"What did I call you in Hollywood"

"Assistant Producer Skinner."

"And how much did I run up on the company card that weekend"

"Seven hundred fifty-two dollars and thirty six cents."

"On what"

"Damned if I know, Mulder I wasn't there" Suddenly the door flew open, revealing a relieved Fox Mulder. "Always have to screw with me, don't you"

"Yup" The two men quickly hugged and then the hug was passed onto Dana.

"So good to see you" she muttered into his shoulder.

Skinner hugged her back tightly, feeling as if he was holding a daughter in his arms. He kissed the top of her head and then released her to continue packing.

Skinner stood stock-still and looked at the chaos surrounding him. "You can't leave." He stated vehemently, causing Scully to stop in her tracks.

"What" She asked, a lamp in her hands.

"You can't leave. They'll just follow you." Skinner prompted, placing his hand on her arm. Fury burned in Mulder's eyes.

"We can't stay. William, I mean... what about William" Mulder spat, his gaze flitting to the door to the room, which held his son.

Skinner's chin fell to his chest, but he promptly lifted his head to stare at his two friends. "Listen, if what I've heard is correct, they're already on their way here... and if the information you've given me is correct, Jim Brass is on this detail."

Mulder nodded, and Scully quickly looked to both men.

"Jimmy. Jimmy B." Skinner said, allowing a ghost of a smile to dance on his lips. "We uh, we played hockey together. Back in Jersey."

Mulder huffed out an astonished laugh. "You're kidding me." Mulder said, flopping down on the couch, letting the weariness settle into his bones. He brought a hand up and swiped at his face, as if to relieve himself of his lethargy.

"Look, he's a reasonable guy" Skinner started, sitting and motioning Scully to do so as well. "And an old friend. I don't enjoy lying to people, but I think I'll be able to convince him that you're part of the witness protection program and that what he received was bad information." Skinner passed Mulder a folder full of documents. "The guys helped me forge these, and have already stopped the arrest warrant from getting to the mainframe at the FBI."

"I know these people, Walter" Scully said, sitting on the coffee table across from her husband"And they're not going to just let this go. Even though it's been a week, Dr. Robbins has told me a lot about how they act. This night shift- they're top of the line. If they smell a rat, we're dead."

Mulder looked at his wife and took her hand in his. "Good thing Krycek's long gone, then." Even though his joke was horrible it brought tiny smiles to the three of them.

Just as the tension in the air settled the doorbell rang.

"They seriously have the worst timing..." Mulder muttered as he stood up to answer the door. Skinner and Scully followed, and with a deep breath, he swung open the door.

"William Melville? Or should I say Fox Mulder? You're..." Brass stopped as the door opened wider and the trio was plainly visible to Brass, Grissom, Sara and Nick. "Skin-man"

"Hey Jimmy. We need to talk."

Skinner smiled a half smile as the detective moved forward and thrust out his hand. Skinner shook his hand solidly and they embraced for a few seconds.

Grissom stood back, his face shocked, brow raised.

Skinner saw the three CSI's standing at the door. "Ah, yeah. I'm uh, Walter Skinner, Assistant Director, F.B.I., and these, I'm sure you know, are agents Mulder and Scully."

The two agents stood back, both wearing scowls, Scully's flush much more discernable now that she was a blonde.

"CSI's..." Brass spun to face his colleagues. "Grissom, Sidle and Stokes. Top of the line. And you're damn right they already know." Brass shot his old friend a glance, and Mulder moved to the door, ushering the rest of them into his home.

"Mr. Melville" Grissom began, his voice catching and he worked quickly to catch his mind up. "Mr. ... Mulder..."

Mulder looked to the CSI with his own raised brow. "We're here about the substance found at your neighbor's residence."

Mulder stayed silent, his arms locked tightly in front of his chest. Scully moved to stand next to him, her hand on his arm.

Held out the sample to the man, who eyed it for a moment, and then took the contained. He looked to his wife, they both looked at the specimen, and Mulder blew out a quick breath. "Hm, I'm surprised you were able to contain it without it 'detonating.'" Mulder said, handing the young woman back the container. Sara placed it back in her kit and swiped at her brow again.

"So you know what it is then" Grissom pressed, stepping a fraction of an inch closer.

Agent Mulder nodded, followed by a nod from his wife. "We first encountered it back in '93. At first glance it appeared to be an alkaline of some sort, an acid. But there were no natural discernable qualities about it. You... you have no idea what it can do." She concluded, sounding direr than she had intended to.

"What do you mean" Sara asked, her eyes now more pronounced that they'd reddened.

Scully looked at the woman with wide eyes. "Have you been around that a lot"

"I've been the primary for the trace evidence, yes" Sara sounded a little worried, and her eyes watered as everyone looked at her.

"Sit down" Scully commanded as she ran into the kitchen.

"Excuse me" Sara gaped, and panic seized Grissom and Nick.

"What's going on" Grissom demanded, even as he pushed Sara down onto the coffee table, examining her eyes for himself.

Dana returned with a bag full of ice surrounded in a thin towel. "Put this over your face, lie down, and take deep breaths." She looked up at Mulder while Grissom forced Sara down, her objections going unheard. "We might be able to stop it, it doesn't look too pronounced."

"Can, can you catch me up on what's going on here" Grissom asked, even as he and Nick helped to hold the ice pack over Sara's eyes. "We came here to arrest you, and now..."

"Prolonged exposure in large quantities can lead to death. I almost died." Mulder said, searching through one of the boxes at the edge of the room. "The first symptoms are severe irritation of the orifices: eyes, nose, mouth... but it can be stopped by cold in the earliest stages."

"Mulder, where is that from" Skinner asked.

"The clones." He said, producing a CDrom. "It's from the clones."

"Wait a minute. What the hell is going on? Skinner... I can tolerate a little, and I trust you like hell... but you better start explaining." Brass completed the triangle in the corner, away from the spooked group attending to Sara.

"Clones" Nick sputtered, holding the ice tightly over Sara's eye as she fidgeted. Finally, Nick clamped his down on her arm and she stopped.

"Nice couch." She muttered and settled back to listen.

Mulder threw his hand over his shoulder as he loaded the CDRom. "Clones, but off the skepticism for one minute..." He waited until the program loaded and he pulled up the DNA codes he was looking for. "Clones." Mulder stated, standing to face the group, hands at his sides.

"Genetically engineered alien/human hybrids."

Brass laughed. "Aliens? Come on Wally." He shot his friend and amused look that his friend didn't return. Brass shook the smile off his face and continued. "Clones. With... alien DNA..." Brass speculated slowly, and Scully nodded.

"Believe me, I was as skeptical as you..." She trailed off.

Mulder looked to her and laughed shortly. "Shoulda seen how much convincing it took me to get her to marry me."

Scully shot him a look and moved to William's door, listening at it. "Yeah well, it certainly wasn't your boyish charm, that's for damn sure." She shot back rather seriously, and Mulder looked wounded for a moment.

"Anyway, there's a huge back story to this." Mulder took a deep breath and began. "My sister was abducted in 1973, November. That's how I discovered the X-Files... eventually... anyway, looking into her disappearance I came across information, government information having to do with aliens, hybrids. The government was making humans, what looked to be humans, with alien DNA. The idea was they would survive when the aliens came to take..." Mulder trailed off, realizing that he sounded like a lunatic.

He was used to it. Scully shot him a weak smile and leaned again William's door.

"Here's the bottom line, powerful men beyond the reach of law enforcement are trying to kill me... my wife and my son." Mulder finished.

Everyone in the room was silent, staring at him.


	6. Reason To Run

Lauren's A/N: Snow sucks. So does school. Thanks for the reviews…I SWEAR I'm going to get back to writing as soon as I can. 

Leslie's A/N: Don't bogart the love guys, spread it around.

* * *

"Give me a reason to believe you." Grissom said, standing and crossing the room to look at the information on the computer. He stared at Mulder and Skinner, a battle of wills ensuing. The three men stared at each other.

"I'll give you a reason," Nick said, looking at his boss as he lifted the ice from Sara's eyes. "She's fine now."

Grissom was back to the couch in a few short strides. Her eyes, which had been getting red and puffy to the point of being swollen shut were merely slightly bloodshot now, and her nose had returned to it's pale flesh tone from it's inflamed red.

"You, you realize that you sound like..." Brass started.

"I know." Mulder stated simply. "And right now you have three choices."

Brass, Nick, and Grissom unconsciously postured, sensing doom in his words.

"And those would be?" Nick said, standing.

"Arrest us for the murder of a man that can't die, another long story, and still leave your case unsolved because we actually didn't have anything to do with it. You can ask us for help, and we'll do what we can to catch you up and help you. Or you can leave and forget you ever knew us."

"What good would that last option do?" Brass asked, still trying to decide if he trusted Skinner anymore.

"Might save your lives." Scully said, opening the door and picking up William, who had just started fussing.

She could see the indecision on Grissom's face. "Big decision. Take their word for it and let two people tried for murder go, or get involved in a conspiracy that isn't even supposed to exist."

""I.." Grissom started, only to be shushed by Mulder. No one moved. One look at Skinner and Mulder knew he'd seen it, too.

"EVERYONE OUT!"

Grissom looked at the people in front of him, and stood his ground. "We have a warrant Mr. Mulder if you'd like to see-"

"GET OUT!" Scully screamed. Grabbing William's bag, her purse and the few discs that she had packed in the box near the door.

Sara took one look at the woman and shoved Nick. "Go." She demanded, wiping the liquid from her eye. Nick stumbled, looked at Sara and Agent Scully, then grabbed his kit and scrambled toward the door. Skinner caught Brass's arm as he exited the house.

"I suggest you tell your friend to move." Skinner grumbled in an authoritative voice, then let Jim go. Grissom stood in the middle of the living room, looking utterly pissed. Brass turned to him and in his best gruff voice told Grissom to leave.

"Jim." He shot back, his voice cracking, on the high end. "This is insane, you can't believe this B.S. ... a disc and a story about aliens? I've heard better to get out of murder."

Just as he finished speaking, Mulder ran back into the house and grabbed Grissom's arm. "Listen, believe me, don't believe me, but we have. To. Leave. Now. You're not dying because of me." Mulder shouted in his face. Griss looked from the computer, to Brass, to Mulder, who was biting his lip... and grabbed his kit.

"Mulder, where are we?"

"My car." Sara shouted, as Grissom, Mulder and Scully piled in. Nick and Skinner jumped in Brass's squad car... and they were gone.

Scully, in the backseat, attempted to hold back tears. A year of running had accomplished nothing. Her son still wasn't safe, neither was her husband. She couldn't protect her family and though she knew she shouldn't be, she was embarrassed.

The interior of the car was silent and they drove though the back streets of Vegas, Sara following Jim's shaky lead. "So, uh," Sara attempted to break the ice. Grissom shot her a look of astonishment. She was taking some sort of lead that he couldn't. "William, how uh, how old is he?"

Scully's head snapped up to the woman in the driver's seat. Sara made brief eye contact in the rearview mirror. Naturally, Scully was skeptical, but then her harsh veneer wore off and weariness set in. "He's... almost a year, eleven months."

The blonde stroked her son's head as he cooed, falling off to sleep despite the erratic driving.

"Well," Sara said, then paused as she swerved around a Dodge Dart. "He's gorgeous." She flicked her eyes to Scully's in the back. "I uh, can't wait to have kids." Sara spurted, attention torn between the conversation and the road, not entirely sure she was saying the right things.

Scully smiled in spite of the situation. "God, you don't know how lucky you are until they come into your life. It's fantastic. A miracle from God." She whispered the last part as her husband leaned over to stroke her hair. Grissom then took an opportunity to steal a glance at the couple in the backseat.

They were both staring at their son, in reverence.

Grissom wanted to say something, wanted to ask just what was going on, when the night lit up and they were rocked by the aftershocks of an explosion. One that had blown apart the house they'd just come from.

The family in the back seat huddled when the car swerved a bit. "Damn it," Scully swore, clutching William to her.

"How long has this been going on?" Sara asked quietly, in shock as she watched embers falling from the sky in the rearview mirror.

"We've been running for almost a year, now. Before that it was ten years." Mulder answered, feeling every bit of the battle they' been a part of.

"Ten years?" Grissom asked.

"I met Scully in 1992 when she was assigned to be my partner on the X-Files. From that day we were shoved deeper into all of this then I would have ever wanted." Sadness descended. No one spoke a word.

Grissom heard the whispers from the back seat, but ignored them.

Scully: "But I wouldn't change a day."

Mulder: "Not even the flukeman?"

Scully: "Ok, maybe the flukeman thing. And we've completely had this conversation before."

He felt the smile in their words, and took a deep breath. "So where are we going?"

Sara looked to her supervisor. "We're... going wherever Brass is going."

There wasn't a reply to her words so she continued to follow the cruiser, all the while checking the rearview mirror to see if they were being followed. She nearly rebuked herself for being so paranoid, but seeing as how the house they'd just been in had been blown to smithereens... she thought caution was best.

Brass took a sharp right turn, which Sara almost missed, but she steered the SUV at the last moment, sending then all careening to the left. "Sorry, sorry." Sara mumbled.

Grissom glanced out the window, becoming acclimated with his surroundings. "Oh god." He mumbled.

"What?" Sara asked belatedly, having caught Jim taking a fast left turn.

"We're going to my place." Grissom deadpanned. He bit his lip and silently cursed his detective friend for thinking so frantically. Though, when he thought about it, his home was the largest of all of his colleagues. He did have a guest room, and two bathrooms. 'Damn Jim for knowing me so well.' He cursed once more to himself.

Sara ignored the flutter that stirred in her stomach when she realized that they were heading back to Griss's townhouse.

Brass pulled back behind his house, where the dumpsters were and threw himself from the vehicle. Nick hopped out as well, followed by Skinner, whose trench coat billowed around him in a movie-like manner.

The other four also hopped from the SUV, all moving behind Grissom as he moved up his seldom-used back stairs.


	7. Push or Shove

Lauren's A/N: Lauren is currently recovering from the aftermath of her show... she will be back to reality soon. :)

Leslie's A/N: Sure, fine, uh… whatever?

* * *

The only noise in the townhouse was Scully in the kitchen, mashing carrots to feed William. An uncomfortable silence hung in the air around Mulder, Sara, and Grissom. It had since Nick, Skinner and Brass left.

They were returning to D.C. for reinforcements.

The four adults and one baby were holed up there, and Mulder was nervous. He paced the floor like a caged tiger.

"Sara, why don't you go help Dana." Grissom lightly nudged her, and she acquiesced, making polite small talk as she entered the kitchen.

"Talk to me, Mulder," Grissom said from his perch on the edge of the couch.

"What do you want to know?"

"How deep into this are we?" His words were tentative.

"Pretty damn deep." Mulder sighed. "At least in the past I used to know who the players were. I'd be in the middle of a case by the time I stumbled on half of this shit. We're flying blind here. We trust no one."

"I'd... I'd normally accuse you of being paranoid here..."

"Paranoid?" Mulder leaned down into Grissom's personal space, his heated words muffled through his clenched teeth. "You want to call me paranoid? We thought it was over... done. The end. We finally...FINALLY... settle down, try to pull some kind of normal life together out of the ruins and it got shot to hell. I had to go into hiding. My son was born on the run in an abandoned summer camp. Attempts were made on his life, to take him from us. He lived with a safe family for months, and more attempts were made on Dana's life than I'd ever care to remember. You want to call me paranoid? Fine. Don't say I never told you so."

"Mulder?" Scully stood in the doorway. She tipped her head and with a sigh he followed her into the bathroom.

Sara appeared in the doorway, William cradled on her hip, his lips orange with mashed carrot. Grissom looked up at her. "He's the only one with an appetite, huh?"

"Not so much. Almost seems like he knows what's going on," Sara said, rocking him a bit as he bit on his orange hands, his head dropping to her shoulder.

"I never knew you wanted children," he said, and regretted it almost as soon as it was out of his mouth.

"Uh, yeah," she replied, a little flustered. "I change my mind a lot, but usually get back to yes." She smiled down at the baby, then up at Grissom. "Don't change the subject, though."

"You're afraid." He said plainly.

Sara looked up at him under her lashes and whispered. "Very," before turning back to the kitchen for a wet towel to clean the boy.

"I don't know how it got to this." Grissom mused to himself, stepping forward to lean into the kitchen doorway.

"I don't think any of us do." Sadness tinged her voice. He winced.

"I... Sara..." He stuttered a bit. "I'm sorry."

She stared at him, and she almost smiled. "Don't be. You never know what's going to happen. Hey, maybe we're on one of those hidden camera shows right now."

Grissom shrugged.

Griss watched as Sara carefully wiped the remnants of food from the baby's mouth. She grinned and cooed to him, he, finding solace in her nonsensical mumbling, reaching up to suck on her hair.

A pang suddenly struck Grissom's midsection and he faltered, moving into the kitchen to stand beside her. "You're good with him." He said quickly, before he could bring himself to reign the words back in. Sara, for her part, stared back at him, a smile not on her lips, but in her eyes.

"I guess." She said, extracting her hair from the toddler's mouth.

In the bathroom, things weren't so at ease.

"Can we even trust them?"

"Dana, you sound more paranoid that I am, and we both know that's saying a lot." Mulder said, leaning against the wall. Scully sat on the toilet and rubbed her sweaty palms against her pants. "And you just left Will with Sara, I think that's saying a lot of you."

His wife shot him a death glare and he grinned, pushing himself away from the wall. He came to stand in front of her. "You left our son with a complete stranger, and you're comfortable. That says something about this. I rely on your instincts here."

Mulder paused to kiss her on the head. "If you tell me to run here, we'll leave, we'll run. But I don't think that they would have blindly taken off to D.C. just to reel our asses in."

Dana sighed, closed her eyes and fought back the tears. She was sick of running, so very sick of running, but she had to. For her husband and for her son. She'd do anything for either of them, whether or not it seemed so at some points.

Grabbing her husband's hand, she spoke. "They, I do trust them, and I think that's what's getting to me. Neither of us have any background on them. And... it feels right. It just feels right Mulder. That must mean something... right?"

Mulder nearly laughed at the look his wife shot him. So helpless, so foreign, so... trusting. "Yes, yes it means something, especially since it's coming from you..." He trailed off and listened, settled into the silence. "And that's the first time that we've left Will with someone else... that he hasn't put up a fuss."

Scully smiled a bit and leaned into Mulder. "I'm just... so very tired of this."

"I know." Mulder kissed her head and held her tighter. "You know I'd do anything to make this stop." The quiet desperation in his voice told her that he was thinking that he somehow belonged back in that prison, that he should be sacrificing his life so she and William could pretend to be happy.

She took a shuddering breath. "I don't want you to have to do anything."

"We'll disappear for real this time."

"Mulder, we can't..." Her protest stemmed from her acceptance of the truth, of their inevitable role in the coming Apocalypse, and her determination for their suffering to not have been in vein.

"We will." His tone was cold. "I know what you're thinking. But, maybe... maybe we can just have a little time before we have to save the world, ok? Maybe I'm being selfish..."

"You're not. You're not." She stepped back, her hand left on his arm. "We'll talk about this later." She took a deep breath and opened the door, smiling as she leaned on the frame. Mulder looked around her to the three in the kitchen.

"Kinda sweet," He said, amazed at how their son was acting.

"They remind me of us." Scully smiled, taking her husband's hand.

"Paranoid and crazy?" He asked with a smile, resting his head on her shoulder.

"No," She laughed and patted his hair. "They remind me of us about 4 years ago. Tiptoeing around each other. The glances. The incredibly protective alpha male thing."

"The 'no work romances' thing..." Mulder led.

"They'll get over it," Scully smiled.

"We did."


End file.
